AstraZeneca vaccine price pledge omits some poor countries, contract shows theguardian.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from theguardian.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
May 12, 2021
Over nearly two decades, a new study has found, government agencies have given at least £175 million ($248 million) to develop ChAdOx, a vaccine delivery system developed by scientists at Oxford University. Charities like the Wellcome Trust have given at least a further £53 million. As much as 99% of the total disclosed funding for ChAdOx research came from public or philanthropic money. And yet ChAdOx now sits at the heart of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine, and the company is free to profit from it at will.
To be sure, AstraZeneca has said it will sell these vaccines at no profit to the developing world “in perpetuity,” and at no profit in the West until it decides the pandemic is over. But that could be as soon as July after which AstraZeneca can cash in heavily on these years of publicly funded research, just as its competitors, such as Pfizer and Moderna, are already doing.